Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

They say admitting that you have a problem is the first step, right?  So here goes…. I have a problem. A problem that I think a lot of people suffer from. I am… a Pinterest hoarder!

Yes, I see all these wonderful looking recipes, and crafts, and design ideas and I pin them thinking “I’d love to make that!”  But do I ever make any of them? Nope! They go into the pin-hoarding vault and get forever forgotten about, until someone else re-pins it and I think “I should really make that…”

So I’ve decided to break the cycle!  I made a list of 4 recipes and their ingredients – four seemed like a manageable number in one month – and bought everything I needed before I got sidetracked by more pins.

This is the first recipe of the fab-four: Broccoli Quinoa Casserole 🙂  The original recipe is from Eating Well, Living Thin.

Quinoa is something I’ve eaten for a few years – my Mom is vegetarian so it’s been included in most recipes for a while.  My husband is pretty new to the quinoa scene though – and still refuses to believe the pronunciation (keen-WAH) – but he’s adventurous, tried it and really liked it! We both did, and we’ll definitely be making it again 🙂

Ingredients:
10 oz can Cream of Broccoli Soup (or cream of mushroom, or cream of whatever you like soup!)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp milk
1 1/4 cups grated cheese (we used 4-cheese Mexican, because we like the mix of flavours)
1/2 tsp sugar (splenda if you prefer)
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (or a dash of freshly grated)
2 cups cooked broccoli
3/4 cup quinoa (1 1/2 cups when cooked – see below)
grated cheese for the top (we used the same 4-cheese Mexican blend)

To cook the quinoa:
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
pinch salt

Rince the quinoa in a sieve under a running tap, until the water runs clear.  Add the rinsed quinoa to a saucepan with the water and salt, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover, then cook for about 18-20 minutes, stirring as little as possible.  The white “tail” will be visible when it’s cooked.

For the casserole:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C, 350 F, gas 4.  Grease a shallow 8×8″ casserole dish (I used a pie dish).

2. Mix together the soup, mayonnaise, milk, grated cheese, sugar and nutmeg in a large bowl. You can add black pepper to season if you like – I’m not a fan of it so we always leave it out of recipes.

3. Add the cooked quinoa and cooked broccoli and mix well.

4. Pour into the casserole dish and sprinkle over with grated cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the edges are golden and bubbly.

5. We were too impatient and hungry, so our edges never got to the golden bubbly stage 😉

6. Enjoy!

We served ours as a side and it was really delicious! I’ll definitely be making it again, it was so simple and if you’re feeling healthy you can substitute the lower fat versions of things like mayonnaise or reduced fat cheese, and use low sodium soup.

This will be my post for this week’s Hearth & Soul Blog Hop 🙂  Be sure to check out the other recipes on there this week and follow my blog for more tasty treats!

Also, this will be my first time taking part in Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm!